Daniel Cook has been appointed master of the choristers and organist for Durham Cathedral, Durham, UK, succeeding James Lancelot, who retires this summer. (For more on Lancelot, see The Diapason, March 2017, p. 4.) Cook leaves Westminster Abbey, where he has been sub-organist, principal organist to the Abbey Choir, and assistant director of music to James O’Donnell.
Cook has had a long association with Durham Cathedral having been taught organ by former cathedral sub-organist Keith Wright in 1996 and 1997. He was a student at English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College Hartlepool, and sang in the Cathedral Consort of Singers, Durham Cathedral’s adult voluntary choir.
Having then served as organ scholar at Worcester Cathedral, Cook moved to London to attend the Royal Academy of Music where his teachers included James O’Donnell. While at the Academy he worked as organ scholar at Southwark Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, graduating with first class honors in July 2003. He was subsequently assistant organist of Westminster Abbey from 2003 to 2005 before becoming assistant director of music at Salisbury Cathedral and then organist and master of the choristers at St. David’s Cathedral.
Cook maintains a freelance career giving organ recitals in the UK and abroad as well as teaching and engagements as a conductor and singer. Recent engagements have included concerts with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the BBC Singers, and Onyx Brass. His compact disc recordings feature the complete organ works of Charles Stanford, Herbert Brewer, Herbert Sumsion, George Dyson, and Walter Alcock. Cook will begin his duties at Durham in the autumn. For information: http://www.danielcookorganist.com/
